Trump accuses China of ‘trade hostility’; another major tariff in making?

US President Donald Trump on Friday accused China of turning “very hostile” and sending letters to countries around the globe outlining plans to impose sweeping export controls on rare earth elements and other critical materials. In a lengthier-than-usual post on social network Truth Social, the 47th American president alleged that China's “sinister and hostile move" could “clog global markets” and make the situation more difficult for almost every country.

Trump also wrote that Beijing's communication lists “each and every element” it wants to restrict, including materials that are "not even manufactured in China", claiming that several nations have reached out to the United States over what they view as sudden trade aggression by the world's second-largest economy.

'Nobody has ever seen anything like this: Trump about China

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Stating that "nobody has seen anything like this", Trump wrote that the development comes despite six months of what he described as a “very good” relationship with China, and said he believes China has been “lying in wait". The American president accused the Asian country of trying to hold the world “captive” through its control of rare earths and magnets.

Trump's latest warning to China